Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A Felt Leaf Garland Tutorial : :

Fall is the perfect time to get out and get creative by doing nature-inspired art projects with your children. Today's project is all about using the natural beauty in the colored leaves of this season to create and inspire an art project for the kids and you to do, together!

What you'll need : :

A variety of wool blend felt pieces in Fall colors

A variety of Fall leaves for color and shape inspiration

Card Stock for making the leaf shape templates

Markers

Glue Stick

Scissors

Double Folded Bias Tape

Sewing Machine

Thread

Pins

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gathering Leaves and Inspiration : :

While most of the leaves around the house are still green, we were able to find all that we needed to guide us in our color choices and leaf shapes for this project.

1. Trace a variety of the leaves onto a heavy paper such as card stock, and cut those out to make the leaf pattern templates 2. Trace the leaf templates onto the felt (this is the perfect job for kiddos) 3. Cut out the felt leaf shapes (This might be a job just for the adults, depending on how old, and handy with scissors, the children are.)

4. Keep tracing those leaves. I left the more simple shapes for my youngest. They each ended up picking a favorite 5. Using just a little bit of glue, have your little one attach the cut out leaf to another piece of felt of a different color 6. Cut away the felt again, until you have have a double-sided leaf

7. Continue until you have a nice variety of shapes and colors. Seventeen was the perfect amount of leaves for a standard package of double sided bias tape. You can use less or more depending on how full you want your garland to be.

8. Now it's time to sew! I let the kids help with adding a simple, straight stitch to a few of the leaves (pic 1), then I showed them how to do both a straight stitch up the center with stitches coming out from that center line (pic 2), and a few with free motion quilting (pic 3).

Continue until you've added the stitching to each of the felt leaves.

Assembling The Garland : :

9. Create a loop at the end and pin, this is for hanging the garland 10. About every 2 1/2" or so, open the double-sided bias tape and insert a leaf 11. close bias tape and pin leaf in place

12. Continue repeating this step until all the leaves are pinned to the bias tape, alternating leaf colors and shapes, spacing them out evening.

13. Begin sewing with a thread that matches the bias tape color, starting at the loop, back-stitching when you begin 14. Make your way down the bias tape, removing pins as you go, keeping your seam close to the edge. Make sure to catch the leaf end with your needle 15. Finish by back-stitching at the end loop

This is great! I've got a pile of felt leaves I made this weekend that is just waiting to be made into a garland! I was having a brain freeze trying to figure out what type of ribbon to use for them. I have a spare package of bias tape sitting here that'll be great for it! :-)

Beautiful! Can't wait to collect some leaves to make one, too :) I was wondering if you remembered the source for the fabric in the large picture with a gray and leaf background - thought it would be nice in my dining room!

Great blog here! Also your web site loads up fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my site loaded up as quickly as yours lolFeel free to visit my weblog : diets that work fast

I гeаlly likе youг blog.. ѵerу nice сolours & themе.Did you creatе this website yourself or did уou hire someone to dο it fοr you? Plz reѕpоnd as Ӏ'm looking to construct my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thanks

I ԁon't comment, but after reading through a lot of remarks on "A Felt Leaf Garland Tutorial : :". I do have a few questions for you if it's allright.

Is it ѕimply me or does іt looκ like a few of thе responseѕ cоmе асroѕѕ as if they are cοming from brain deаԁ visitorѕ?:-P Аnԁ, if you are pοstіng аt additionаl plaсes, I ωould likе tο keeρ up with eνerything freѕh you have tо pοst.Cοulԁ you list оf thе сomplete uгls of yοur ѕocial nеtworking pages like youг linkedin profile, Facebоoκ ρage or twitter feеd?

You гeally maκe it sеem sο easу ωith yοur preѕentation but I fіnd this toρiс tо be геаlly sоmеthing that I think I ωоuld never understаnd. It ѕeеms too complicated аnd ехtremеly broad for me.I am lookіng fοrward for youг neхt pοst, I'll try to get the hang of it!

you're truly a good webmaster. The site loading speed is incredible. It kind of feels that you're doіng any unique trick.Alsо, The contеnts are mаsterωork.you haνe done a Amazing ρrocess on this tοpic!

An outѕtanding share! Ӏ've just forwarded this onto a friend who was conducting a little research on this. And he in fact bought me lunch simply because I found it for him... lol. So let me reword this.... Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending some time to talk about this topic here on your web site.

Νow then from Sсotland! I'm bored at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during my morning break. I really like the info you present here and can't wait to take a looκ when I get homе.

Thanks for your idea of fall garland! I made my own with some changes but it is totally inspired by your post! You may find my garland here http://www.mishinata.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-post.html#more

A stay at home mom who loves to make things, living with her husband, three children, kitty - Lily, and new puppy - Penelope in small town Pennsylvania.I have a passion for sewing, quilting, fabric, knitting, felting, and drawing. Having you visit me here is wonderful, receiving a comment is even better - so please do both often!

- - - ♥ THANK YOU ♥ - - -

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Follow by Email

Follow My Instagram

SPONSOR SHOP SALES : :

--

This Week's Quote : :

"To Live A Creative Life, We Must Lose Our Fear of Being Wrong."- Joseph Chilton Pearce